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How To Get Into The Habit of Wearing a Mask

How To Get Into The Habit of Wearing a Mask
Carly Jacobs

You know what? Wearing a mask isn’t REALLY that big a deal (unless you have medical reasons why you can’t of course). The problem is, it’s really freaking hard to start doing something you’ve NEVER EVER done, all the time and totally out of the blue. Mask wearing was recommended where we live a week ago and almost no one wore them and I reckon the reason was simple – they just forgot to wear them. We were determined to wear them to show that we support the restrictions and even then we occasionally left them in the car and went ‘Bugger!’ when we realised we were halfway inside the supermarket not wearing a mask.

how to wear a mask

It’s not a big ask from our government to wear masks but it is asking for a rather significant change in our habits.

It’s now mandatory to wear masks in Victoria in Australia (a potential $200 fine makes remembering your mask a little easier) but depending on your circumstances it might still be difficult to remember to wear your mask. Especially if you don’t have the fear of being fined.

Before we continue, here are the official guidelines to mask-wearing in Victoria – please look up your own state procedures and restrictions.

The base recommendation is 3 layers of fabric so even a folded scarf is perfectly acceptable. I’ve made a few using these patterns and they’re great! Basically don’t overthink it. Just get your face covered in any way you can.

Here are a few ways you can remember to wear a mask.

how to wear a mask

1. Put your clean masks in a plastic box in your car/next to your front door

That way they’re right there as you’re about to leave. Just remember cloth reusable masks need to be laundered every day – treat your mask like undies. Fresh pair every day. Except you need to a little bit stricter – definitely don’t turn your mask inside out to get another day of wear out it. That’s not cool. And don’t borrow anyone else’s mask either. Ew. You can share laundered cloth masks just not used ones.

how to wear a mask

2. Keep a clean mask near your keys/sunglasses 

I never EVER leave the house without my sunglasses and I’ve been keeping a few masks in clean cloth bags or ziplock bags next to my keys to remind me to grab one.

3. Stick a big sign on your door that says DON’T FORGET YOUR MASK!!! 

Despite all the boxes of masks I have at key points in my house I still sometimes forget. I have 1.5 year old so leaving the house is an interesting experience most of the time. I’ve popped a sign up the door reminding me and that usually prompts me to dash back and grab one.

how to wear a mask

4. Set a reminder on your phone 

Most smartphones allow you to set condition-based reminders so yours might be when you get 50 meters from your front door, you get sent a reminder to take your mask with you – that way you can swing back around and go back to get your mask before you’re halfway to the shops.

Also hot tip – carry a zip lock bag to keep your mask in if you need to take it off to eat/run/teach/communicate with a hearing-impaired person. And always wash or sanitize your hands before you touch your mask.

how to wear a mask

Finally – let’s just do it. People in Japan have been doing it for centuries for just regular sicknesses. What legends. Let’s get onboard kids and be the collective Chuck Norris of flattening the curve – I want to day drink with my mum and listen to Mariah’s Carey’s Christmas album with my dad on Christmas day please. Don’t ruin this for me.

Plus I kind of feel a bit bad-ass wearing a mask. Like a sexy spy or something. Love it.

Oh also I wrote this for Melburnians about a week ago and now all of Victoria is in lockdown – it’s a Notoriously Enjoyable Movies to Watch bundle with a checklist and a schedule. There’s a calendar included that gives 2 movie options for each day right up until the end of August – just a little something to get you through to the end of lockdown!

Oh and this week’s episode of Straight & Curly is live now – How To Communicate With People You Work With. We had heaps of people asking for an episode on this (well like 8 or 9 people but percentage-wise that’s a vocal majority!) so we put together all our tips for good, thoughtful and non-conflicty communication in the workplace. It’s all Zoom/email-based too because let’s face it, none of us seeing many people right now.

The base recommendation is 3 layers of fabric so even a folded scarf is perfectly acceptable. I’ve made a few using these patterns and they’re great! Basically don’t overthink it. Just get your face covered in any way you can.

Here are a few ways you can remember to wear a mask.

Have a great week!

We can do this!

2 Comments

  1. Missy D 4 years ago

    Hope you guys are doing okay! Waring masks not mandatory up here in Queensland yet, but it may not be far away so I’ve been trying to find good reusable ones (pretty hard to find with them all sold out!). I might try the pattern you link to. 🙂

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 4 years ago

      It’s almost impossible to get them! And postage is so slow. My bestie and my mother in law are sending us some and I’ve ordered a few but that was weeks ago.

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